VOL. LXXIV.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 521 



the southward, it gradually descended, and at length was lost out of sight. The 

 time of its appearance was Q h l6 m p. m. mean time of the meridian of London, 

 and it continued visible about half a minute. 



§ 2. How far north the meteor may have begun there are no materials to de- 

 termine with precision ; but, as it was seen in Shetland, and at sea between the 

 Lewes and Fort William, and appeared to persons at Aberdeen and Blair in Athol 

 ascending from the northward, and to an observer in Edinburgh as rising like 

 the planet Mars, there can be little doubt but its course commenced beyond the 

 farthest extremity of this island, somewhere over the northern ocean. General 

 Murray, f. r. s. being then at Athol House, saw it pass over his head as nearly 

 vertical as he could judge, tracing it from about 45° of elevation north-north- 

 westward to 30° or 20° south south-eastward, where a range of buildings intercepted 

 it from his view. From near the zenith of Athol House, it passed on a little 

 westward of Perth, and probably a little eastward of Edinburgh ; and continuing 

 its progress over the south of Scotland, and the western parts of Northumber- 

 land and the Bishopric of Durham, proceeded almost through the middle of 

 Yorkshire, leaving the capital of that county somewhat to the eastward. Hitherto 

 its path was as nearly s. s. e. as can be ascertained ; but somewhere near the 

 borders of Yorkshire, or in Lincolnshire, it appears to have gradually deviated to 

 the eastward, and in the course of that deviation to have suffered the remarkable 

 change already noticed under the denomination of bursting. After this division, 

 the compact cluster of smaller meteors seems to have moved for some time almost 

 s. e. thus traversing Cambridgeshire and perhaps the western confines of Suffolk ; 

 but gradually recovering its original direction, it proceeded over Essex and the 

 Straits of Dover, entering the continent probably not far from Dunkirk, where, 

 as well as at Calais and Ostend, it was thought to be vertical. Afterwards it was 

 seen at Brussels, Paris, and Nuits in Burgundy, still holding on its course to the 

 southward ; nay, there is an intimation, though of doubtful authority, that it 

 was perceived at Rome. Our information of its progress over the continent is 

 indeed very defective and obscure ; yet we have sufficient proof that it traversed 

 in all 13 or 14 degrees of latitude, describing a track of 1000 miles at least over 

 the surface of the earth ; a length of course far exceeding the utmost that has 

 been hitherto ascertained of any similar phenomenon. 



ft, 3. This meteor was described by most spectators under 3 different forms, and 

 is so represented by Mr. Sandby in his beautiful drawing ; but the first 2 of those 

 do not imply any real variation in its shape, depending only on a difference in the 

 point of view. Accordingly, in the first part of its course over Scotland, it was 

 seen to have a tail, and is thus described by General Murray when it passed Athol 

 House. Two causes concur in this deception ; first, the fore-shortening, and 

 even occultation, of the tail, when the object is seen nearly in front ; and, 2dly, 



vol. xv. 3 X 



